Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti:
The 553rd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev was celebrated.
- Birth in 1459 at Talwandi Rai Bhoe village near Lahore, which was later renamed as Nankana Sahib.
- He was the first of the 10 Sikh gurus and the founder of Sikhism.
- Contributions:
- Initiated inter-faith dialogue way back in the 16th century and had conversations with most of the religious denominations of his times.
- Wrote compositions which were included in the Adi Granth, compiled by Guru Arjan (1563-1606), the fifth Sikh guru.
- This came to be known as Guru Granth Sahib after the additions made by the 10th Sikh guru – Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708).
- Advocated the ‘Nirguna’ (devotion to and worship of formless divine) form of bhakti.
- Rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities.
- Set up rules for congregational worship (Sangat) involving collective recitation.
- Gave the basic mantra of ‘Ek Onkar’ to his followers and insisted on treating all human beings equally, without discriminating on the basis of caste, creed and gender.
- Death: In 1539 at Kartarpur, Punjab.
